Readings: "Drawnward" By Caitlin Fitz Gerald

"I like to write about foreign policy, national security, and related subjects. I like to make art. This site is an experiment in combining the two."

So writes Caitlin Fitz Gerald about her new blog, Drawnward, which I am very pleased to welcome into existence. Caitlin, as you may know, is the creator of Clausewitz for Kids---which I described last year as perhaps "the single most excellently eccentric national security-oriented project currently ongoing on the web." She also blogs over at Gunpowder and Lead, a web site devoted to security, small arms, and international affairs. She describes her new project as follows:

My intention is to have 1-2 substantive pieces per week, with a varying number of quick hits. Because this space is my own, I am giving myself permission to range a little widely in my topics, and to indulge my love of the absurd a little bit, especially in the short posts or cartoons. I hope that people will enjoy what I put out there, and that I can be successful in integrating art into written analysis in a way that is valuable and honors both methods. I anticipate that some posts will be more text, or more art, while some will be a fairly even split of the two. My goal is simply to go with whatever best helps me express what I am trying to express.

Her first two posts deal with Syria and the selection of a new pope.

I have a particular, rather-personal reason to be excited about Drawnward. As Caitlin notes in her own introductory post, the site grew out of some conversations Caitlin and I had last summer about how to integrate what seem like two entirely disparate interests on her part: national security writing and analysis and visual arts. When I first saw Caitlin's work, it revived an idea that had been kicking around my brain since I worked at the Washington Post. At the Post, cartoonist Tom Toles sat on the editorial page corridor (he still does) and participated in our meetings, yet our text and his cartoons were entirely separate. Indeed, while Tom himself writes very beautifully and thoughtfully, until he started this blog Post readers would have had limited occasion to know that; expository writing is not really a feature of traditional political cartoons. I started wondering if perhaps the web offered a way to merge what had traditionally been two separate modes of commenting on public affairs. I suggested to Caitlin that she might be the perfect person to pioneer this new form. I'm couldn't be more pleased that she has run with the idea. And I’ll be fascinated to see where she takes the project---and where it takes her. Here's wishing her all the best with Drawnward.